Caleb Ewan sets his sights on the Australian season
Australia’s fastest cyclist Caleb Ewan has set his sights on another assault on the Australian cycling circuit in 2018, with confirmation of his early season race program
The 23-year-old, who claimed 13 victories in 2017 including six in Australia, will return to the Australian Cycling Road National Championships to defend his criterium title and line up in the road race, before heading to the Tour Down Under in Adelaide and concluding his ‘home’ tour on Australia Day at Race Melbourne as part of the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race.
“I’m definitely going into the criterium to try to defend my title. We should have a really good team there so I think we have a pretty good chance."
"For the road race, we have a fair few options. For me, I’m hoping the race is a little bit easier, with a head wind up the climb to slow the race down going up the hill, so I can get to the finish for some sort of sprint. But as a team we have options for every race scenario.”
“Wearing the green and gold at any point is really an honour. We don’t do a lot of crits so I haven’t been able to wear the green and gold a lot, so it would really be a dream to wear it on the road.”
At the Tour Down Under, Ewan will face a deeper sprinter field than last year, when he won four stages and the points jersey.
Obviously, I’d like to repeat what I did last year, but it’s going to be hard to win four stages and the People’s Choice again
“The Tour Down Under is one of the biggest races in Australia and being Australian, racing there, I’m very motivated to do well in my home race.”
The 2018 Santos Tour Down under starts with the People's choice criterium on Jan 14th in Adelaide, with 6 road stage starting Jan 16th and features some tough stages with a stage finish up Willunga Hill. Last year's race was won by an in form Richie Porte from BMC Racing.
The Cadel Evans Ocean Road Race is on January 28th, with a corresponding Gran Fondo taking place on Jan 27th in Geelong, Victoria.